Tuesday, 12 March 2013

1918-08-17

HAMILTON
IN ITS INFANCY

How few of the present generation know
anything of the early history of Hamilton; and, indeed, but few of the
old-timers can tell you much about it. It is only the old musers who dig into
ancient history and gather up bits of the past here and there who manage to
keep in touch the past with the present. Many years ago as one of the ancients,
gifted as a poet and in literature, wrote a very interesting sketch of Hamilton
for an historical atlas of the county of Wentworth, and although that atlas was
published only forty-four years ago, it is doubtful if many of them have been
preserved, and yet it tells more in brief of the early history of Hamilton than
can be gathered from any other source. To gather up the threads will be one of
the pleasures of the Saturday Muser and we will make good use of the atlas to
while away an hour now and then in telling the present native generation
something of the early history of the town in which they were born.

The old-time muser from whom we quote
tells us that Hamilton was originally covered with a dense growth of tall,
rank, coarse, serrated Indian grass which, when drawn the reverse way across
the hand, cut like a sharp saw. Between the mountain and the bay was cut here
and there with deep ravines and dotted with patches of swamp or swale – a
favorite haunt for quail, rattlesnakes and frogs . On the spot now occupied by
the market square was a dense growth of shrubbery which formed a safe shelter for
wolves. This same market square was later a fine orchard, planted by Andrew
Miller, and he kept a tavern on the corner of Macnab and Market square in the
building now owned by Parke and Parke, druggists. When the first settlers came
into this part of Canada, a deer trail extended over the brow of the mountain
brow, from where the reservoir of the waterworks is now situated down to the
bay. A well-beaten Indian trail extended from the Indian villages near Lake
Medad and the Grand River, through the valley of Dundas, down to the bay near
the foot of what is now Emerald street, where the Indians had a burial mound,
evidently used for the internment of the chiefs. This mound was fifteen feet
high and fifty feet in diameter. The sides were quite steep, and there was a
dip or slight hollow in the mound on top. The mound was covered all over about
two feet deep with cinders and ashes, the remains of funeral pyres which the
Indians had built in honor of the dead and for the purpose of destroying the
scent of the dead body, and so prevent the wolves from desecrating the tomb.
The remains of the mound could be seen at the foot of Emerald street as late as
the year 1874, though almost leveled by nearly a century of cultivation. The
early settlers turned up with the plow great quantities of arrow and spear
heads, detached skulls and bones, pieces of pottery, wampum, stone hatchets,
etc. giving evidence of a probable Indian battle having been fought in that
locality at some remote time.

THE FIRST WHITE MAN WHO SETTLED ON THE
SITE OF HAMILTON

There are two families who claim this
distinction for their ancestors – the Beasleys and the Lands. This muser has
heard both sides and told the story in the Spectator. Here is the story as told
by the Khan, the ancient muser of the Wentworth atlas.

“In the part of the year 1778, Robert
Land settled on three hundred acres of land, stretching from the bay to the
foot of the mountain. It is on about one acre of the original farm, on the
corner of King and Wellington streets, that Richard Springer and his fellow
trustees built the First Methodist church in Hamilton – and, indeed, it was the
first church building of any denomination erected in this old town, That was in
1823. Robert Land was born on the banks of the Delaware, in the United States,
and on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, he took sides with the
British. One night, while carrying dispatches for his general, he was fired
upon by the enemy and was struck on the back by a spent ball, knocking him
down. In falling he cut his hand on a sharp stone, and the wound bled
profusely. He was too much hurt to get on his feet, but he succeeded in
creeping on his hands and knees into the underbush, where he hid till morning.
That same night, while he lay helpless in pain from the wound in his hand, the
Indians burnt down his cabin, driving his wife and family forth homeless, his
wife believing him to having been murdered by the Indians followed the
retreating British into New Brunswick.

Not being able to any tidings of his
family, Mr. Land came to Canada and settled on two hundred acres of land near
Niagara Falls. Later he moved to the Head of the Lake, the present site of
Hamilton and located on three hundred acres of land. Seven years afterwards his
family, not liking New Brunswick as a home, came to Niagara Falls with the
intention of settling on a farm in that locality, where they heard that a man
named Land, who had formerly lived there, was living at the Head of the Lake,
they walked all the way from Niagara Falls on foot, carrying their personal
effects with them, and the long-separated family were agin happily reunited.
Mr. Land sowed the first bushel of wheat on the soil of Hamilton. The house in
which the family lived was a little log hut with a mud floor, on the corner of
William and Barton streets. It had a birch bark roof, and the logs that
composed the wall were neither hewn nor finished, but were cut in irregular
lengths. The chinks in the wall were stopped with swamp moss. A huge fireplace
extended across one end of the house. Dried venison hung from the ceiling at
all seasons of the year, and the trusty rifle was suspended above the
fireplace. There was but one window, a dried wolf skin being stretched as a
substitute for glass. After Land and his family settled here, others followed,
but immigration was very slow, especially to the present site of early
Hamilton, the early settlers preferring the higher land in Ancaster and Barton.
It was her geographical position at the head of the lake that built up
Hamilton, and not the inviting character of her soil for agricultural purposes.
The immigrants for a long time shunned the swampy margin of Burlington bay some
going east of Hamilton, where they built up Stoney Creek long before Hamilton
had a name. Others settled on the rolling lands of Ancaster, and Ancaster
village in 1825 was nearly as large as it is now.

THE FIRST LODGE OF FREEMASONS

The first lodge of the Masonic order
(The Barton No. 6) was organized in 1795, the meetings being held in Smith’s
tavern, which stood at the corner of King and Wellington streets, the members
attending from Ancaster, Barton and Saltfleet. Ancient history tells us that
Davenport Phelps, a Connecticut Yankee, was sent as a missionary and lay reader
to the Niagara district from the Trinity church in New York city, in order to
establish and organize branches of the English church. Being a member of the
Masonic order at his old home, he naturally made the acquaintance of those
brethren who had settled at the Head of the Lake, and in 1795, The Barton Lodge
was instituted. Smith’s tavern was the first tavern built on the site of
Hamilton. In later years, it was known by the name of The Poplars from a grove
of poplar trees in front yard facing King street. It is now the site of the
east end branch of the Bank of Hamilton.

A FEW OF THE EARLY SETTLERS

Here are the names of a few of the
early settlers who owned and occupied land on the site of Hamilton in 1812.
Abel Land lived on two hundred acres of land north of Barton and east of
Wentworth streets. Colonel John Aikman occupied the next farm and his log house
stood on the corner of Burlington and King streets. Ephraim Land owned four
hundred acres east of Wellington and south of Main streets. Robert Land’s farm
was north of King and east of Wellington streets, and his house stood on the
southeast corner of William and Barton streets. Peter Ferguson, after whom
Ferguson avenue was called, owned two hundred acres of land east of Mary and
north of King streets. His house stood on the street near the corner of Robert
street and Ferguson avenue. Nathaniel Hughson, after whom Hughson street was
named, owned two hundred acres east of Mary, west of Wellington and north of
king streets. Captain Durand occupied the only farm south of Main street. His
house stood on the middle of Upper John street. He sold the farm to George
Hamilton, who laid it out into town lots in the year 1813, and from which
Hamilton dated its first centennial anniversary in June, 1913. George Hamilton
donated the court house square and Gore park to the city in consideration of
the town being called Hamilton. Richard Springer owned a farm of one hundred
acres from Main street to the mountain, bounded by Wellington street and the
line between Walnut and Catharine streets. It was in Richard Springer’s log
house that the first Methodist church was organized in 1801, and where
Nathaniel Bangs, one of the early circuit riders, reached his first sermons in
1802.

A man named Barnum kept tavern on the
northwest corner of James and King streets, the present site of the C. P. R.
ticket office. Barnum also owned a farm extending from James to Merrick streets.
Daniel Kirkendall owned a farm of two hundred acres north of King and west of
Bay. His house stood above the hollow near the Grand Trunk shops.

Here are a few of the first men who
laid the foundations of Hamilton as an industrial city. “Black” Carpenter and
Knight and Shute were the first cabinet makers. Knight and Shute’s factory was
King Street, about where White’s block stands. There were no undertakers then,
but the cabinet makers supplied most of the coffins. Colonel John Aikman was
the first wagon maker, and Edward Jackson was the first tinsmith. Their shops
were on the south side of the Gore on King street. The first foundry was
started by John Fisher, on the corner of James and Merrick streets, on the lot
now occupied by the old Royal Hotel. He was later joined by Dr. C. McQuesten, a
practicing physician from the State of New York. And it did not take this man
many years to make a fortune, when John Fisher retired and returned to his home
in the States. Dr. McQuesten remained in the business a few years longer, when
he turned it over to L. D. and Samuel Sawyer. The old foundry and agricultural
implements are now doing business at the old stand, northeast of the Grand
Trunk tracks under the company name of Sawyer Massey. John Fisher built the
first threshing machine made in Canada. The first blacksmith shop was owned by
John Reynolds and it stood on the southeast corner of King and Ferguson avenue.
The first district school in Hamilton was kept by John law said to be in a
building on the First Methodist church lot and was occupied by the janitor of
the church as a residence till recently when it was torn down, thus removing
one of the ancient landmarks, but its removal has improved the appearance of
the church lot. The old town began with six industrial shops and one tavern. It
now has over 400 industries, the largest ones furnishing labor for 2,500 to
3,000 men and women. The nearest saw mill was on Big Creek in Barton.

WHEN HAMILTON WAS FIRST SURVEYED INTO
TOWN LOTS

In 1813, George Hamilton bought from
Captain Durand his hundred acre farm, running from Main street to the base of
the mountain on Upper John street, for which he paid 3,000 pounds. Hamilton was
the member of parliament for this district, and was a man of energy and public
spirit. The lots were slow of sale, and the population of slower growth, for
twenty years later in 1832, the whole town could not muster two thousand
people. There were only 841 acres of cultivated land in the town and 1,357
uncultivated acres; the assessed value of property was $71,928. When it came to
the christening of the town, a large number wanted to call it Burlington, but
the majority was in favor of Hamilton, for the reason that Mr. Hamilton was
liberal in donating land for the court house square and for Gore park.
Unfortunately, there are no attainable records of Hamilton for its first twenty
years. The first sign of progress was when parliament, on the 19th
of March, 1823, passed an act to authorize the construction of a canal between Burlington bay and Lake
Ontario. The canal is three-quarters of a mile long. It was commenced in 1823
and completed in 1832, when Hamilton became the head of navigation. The
Desjardins canal was chartered on the 30th of June, 1826, and was
completed about the same time that the Burlington canal was opened for
navigating. Prior to that time, the entrance to the bay was at the north end of
the beach.

HAMILTON’S FIRST MARKET

Since the old market-house was
destroyed by fire about a year ago, there has been talk of building a new one
to cost $100,000 or more. It has only been talk thus far, for there is some
opposition to erecting a new building on account of the cost and the scarcity
of money. Here is a bit of ancient market house history. On the 12th
of February, 1833, and act was passed “on account of the great increase in the
population of the twn,” to define the limits of the town of Hamilton and to
establish a market house. The town was laid out into four wards, and it was
decided to put an assessed valuation of $1,000 on each lot. The corporation was
also authorized to fix the location of the market and power given to borrow
$4,000 for the purpose of building a market house, and for purchasing one or
more fire engines as might be deemed necessary. In 1832, a considerable portion
of the business part of the town was destroyed by fire. That same year, cholera
swept off a large number of the inhabitants. A history of the fire and the
visitation of the plague was published in the Canadian Wesleyan and the Western
Mercury, the two papers published in Hamilton at that time. The post office
consisted of one room in the second story of the building over the Mercury
office and only one man was employed to handle all the mail.

In 1839, another act was passed giving
the corporation the authority to build a second market not to exceed three
acres in extent, and power given to borrow $4,000 with which to build a market
house. A bylaw provided that no butter, meat poultry, nor fish should be
exposed for sale except in the market on John street, with the exception of
Tuesdays and Saturdays when farmers were allowed to carry their wares about the
town for sale. The market fees were 12 ½ cents.

On the 24th day of July
1850, an act was passed to incorporate the Hamilton Gaslight company, the
capital to be $50,000 in shares of $40 each, but with power to increase it to
another sum not exceeding $50,000. The city of Hamilton might, in fifteen
years, assume control of the whole property on paying back the sums expended.